This Fragile Land, by Paul A. Johnsgard

12.99 USD

The Nebraska Sandhills is the largest area
of sand dunes in the western hemisphere, covering an area about as large
as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined. Unlike most
dunes, the Sandhills region supports an astonishing variety of wildlife.

Sixty
million years ago the area lay submerged in a vast inland sea. As the
land lifted and the waters receded, the sandhills were formed, built
upon a sandy floor above a sandy basement. Paul A. Johnsgard’s
appreciation for the region includes its evolution, a process that
continues today making a very special place, patiently shaped by water,
wind, and time.

Sometimes 450 feet higher than
their sloping valleys, the hills themselves are almost entirely covered
with plants that manage to survive on an unstable substrate and in a
climate of merciless heat and cold. They provide homes and resting
places for rare species and sustain the livelihoods of a remarkable
variety of people.

Though firmly established in
science, this book is an extended love letter to the Sandhills region
and its people, plants, and animals. Johnsgard is now in his third
decade of research in the Sandhills. This Fragile Land lets others see what he sees, a land with a fascinating range of geological, biological, and ecological vistas.